the underview.

In this episode, we sit down with Irvin Camacho , a Community Rights Organizer and immigrant advocate based in Northwest Arkansas. Irvin shares how his family's experience—his parents working in the region’s poultry plants—shaped his understanding of labor, language, and belonging. Through his work on language justice, immigrant rights education, and deportation defense, Irvin is at the foref...

In Northwest Arkansas, the poultry industry has long been a cornerstone of the region’s economic growth. Behind the refrigerated cases and production lines are thousands of workers, many of them immigrants, whose stories and experiences are rarely part of the public conversation. In this episode, we sit down with Magaly Licolli , co-founder and Executive Director of Venceremos , a worker-based org...

In this episode, we confront one of the most culturally significant topics in Northwest Arkansas: the role of Walmart, Tyson Foods, and J.B. Hunt in shaping not only the economy, but the entire identity of the region. These companies have brought immense opportunity, visibility, and resources to Northwest Arkansas. But they’ve also concentrated power in unprecedented ways, influencing housing, lab...

For decades, Latino immigrants have come to the United States in search of stability, opportunity, and a better future. But what brought them specifically to Arkansas—and to Northwest Arkansas in particular? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Steven Rosales, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Arkansas , to trace the...

In part two of our conversation with Dr. Jared Phillips , we trace the transformation of the Ozarks from an agrarian culture built on land, memory, and mutuality into a region shaped by corporate industry and consolidated power. We explore how poultry integration, economic policy, and the rise of companies like Tyson and Walmart reshaped Northwest Arkansas, altering not just the economy, but the i...

In this episode, we continue the story of Southeast Fayetteville—this time by examining the systems that helped shape, and often erase, its historic Black community. Architect and former Fayetteville Planning Commissioner Alli Thurmond Quinlan joins us to uncover how zoning policies, preservation rules, and land use codes have operated as tools of exclusion across generations. Building on the firs...

In this episode, we speak with longtime Fayetteville resident Tommie Flowers Davis about the disappearing legacy of Southeast Fayetteville’s Black community —and the movement to establish a Black Historic District before it’s too late. As a native of the neighborhood, a former educator, a developer, and a member of the Fayetteville Historic District Commission , Ms. Davis offers both personal test...

In this episode, Dr. Michael C. Pierce , labor historian and professor at the University of Arkansas , helps us unpack the deep connections between race, labor, and the struggle for civil rights in Northwest Arkansas. Long before the region was known for corporate giants and suburban growth, it was home to radical union organizing, socialist movements, and even biracial political alliances. Dr. Pi...

In this episode, we pause the historical narrative of Northwest Arkansas to check in with one of the region’s most important community leaders. Brad Sikorski is the new President and CEO of the Excellerate Foundation , stepping into the role after the transformative season under the leadership of Jeff Webster. With roots in Walmart , Walton Enterprises , and years on Excellerate’s board, Brad brin...

This episode brings us to Tontitown, Arkansas—a community formed by Italian immigrants who carved out a place of belonging in the Ozarks through stone, song, and story. Our guest, Emily Pianalto-Beshears , Manager of the Tontitown Historical Museum and a descendant of the original settlers , invites us into her family’s deep-rooted history. Through Emily’s eyes, we see how traditions like the Tont...

In the late 1800s, a group of Italian immigrants left the mountain villages of Northern Italy in search of opportunity and land in America. What they found instead was exploitation, malaria, and broken promises on the cotton fields of Sunnyside Plantation in Southeast Arkansas.  In this first of a two-part series, filmmaker and journalist Larry Foley joins us to trace their story—how they came, wh...

In this episode of the underview , we sit down with Dr. Debbie Jones, Superintendent of Bentonville Public Schools , to explore the sweeping changes unfolding across Arkansas and the nation that are reshaping public education. Fresh off the end of the Arkansas legislative session, Dr. Jones helps unpack the implications of the newly signed ACCESS Act, the need for focus on behavioral health legisl...

In this episode of the underview , we sit down with John McLarty —geographer, regional planner, and longtime researcher with the Arkansas Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association . Over the past two decades, John has helped uncover and preserve the routes, burial sites, and stories of the Trail of Tears that run directly through Northwest Arkansas. From his early work mapping the Butterfield Stag...

In this episode of the underview , we travel to the southern edge of Washington County to explore Cane Hill —one of the earliest white settlements in Northwest Arkansas—and speak with Vanessa McKuin , Executive Director of Historic Cane Hill . Vanessa brings her personal and professional insight as a preservationist and native Arkansan to help us understand how this small community became a cultur...

In this first part of our conversation with Dr. Jared M. Phillips , we take a necessary pause to consider not just what happened in the Ozarks, but how it began to feel. Before this region had a name, it had an identity-forming—shaped by those who came here looking for something hard, rugged, and remote.  Dr. Phillips helps us explore how the geography of the Ozarks, its agrarian limits, and the b...

In this conversation with historian Rachel Whitaker of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History , we trace the early formation of Northwest Arkansas through the lens of power, policy, and people. Rachel offers an expansive look at how settler colonial decisions—such as the displacement of Native nations, the introduction of slavery, and the establishment of counties like Washington and Benton—shaped the...

In this episode of the underview , we explore the life and legacy of Samuel West Peel — the first native-born Arkansan elected to the U.S. Congress and one of the most influential political figures to emerge from Northwest Arkansas. Historian Chelsea Stewart of the Peel Museum joins us to trace Peel’s rise through family connections, legal influence, and public office, and to help us confront the...

In this episode of the underview , we sit down with brothers Steve and Rusty Anderson , sixth-generation descendants of Col. Hugh Allen Anderson —believed to be one of the first white settlers to arrive in Northwest Arkansas in the early 1800s. Through their family’s oral history and deep regional roots, we explore a story that reaches back before the Cherokee Trail of Tears, into the era of westw...

In September 2020, Bentonville’s Confederate statue was removed from the downtown square and relocated to a new park near the city cemetery. The decision came after years of debate, heightened by the national reckoning on racial justice following the murder of George Floyd.  In this episode, Benton County Judge Barry Moehring reflects on the process that led to the statue’s removal, the tensions a...

the civil war with Dale Phillips. In this episode of the underview , historian Dale Phillips , retired Superintendent of Lincoln Home National Historic Site , explores the Civil War’s impact on Arkansas, particularly Northwest Arkansas, and why its legacy still matters today. With over 40 years in the National Park Service, he unpacks the state’s role in secession, the battles fought on Arkansas s...

the weary land with Dr. Kelly Houston Jones, part 2. In the weary land with Dr. Kelly Houston Jones, part 2 , we examine Arkansas’s secession and the Civil War’s impact on slavery. Dr. Jones explains how Governor Henry Rector and state leaders saw slavery as essential, with even Unionist Arkansans supporting it for economic stability. We explore how fear, paranoia, and political power drove secess...

the weary land with Dr. Kelly Houston Jones, part 1. In this first episode of a two-part series, Dr. Kelly Houston Jones, author of A Weary Land: Slavery on the Ground in Arkansas , explores how slavery was foundational to the state’s formation—shaping its economy, politics, and society from the beginning. We examine the rise of the “second slavery,” the daily lives of enslaved people, and the way...

the great river with Boyce Upholt. The Mississippi River is more than just a body of water—it’s a force that has shaped the land, the people, and the very mythology of America. In this episode of the underview , I sit down with Boyce Upholt, author of The Great River , to explore how this river became the backbone of American expansion, the driving factor in Manifest Destiny, and a symbol of Ameri...

the downstream people, the elders with Barbara Kyser-Collier. In this episode of the underview , Barbara Kyser-Collier, a leader and elder of the Quapaw Nation, shares the history, resilience, and cultural restoration of her people. From the impact of federal policies that led to the loss of full-blood Quapaw to the ongoing fight for sovereignty and identity, Barbara’s story sheds light on the end...

the downstream people, the elders with Betty Gaedtke (ep 2, 09). In this episode, we sit down with Betty Gaedtke , an elder of the Quapaw Nation and the only known Quapaw potter actively reviving the traditional art of her ancestors. Through her work, Betty is not only shaping clay but reclaiming history, restoring cultural identity, and ensuring that Quapaw traditions endure for future generation...